Accessing Care and Support

Direct Payments

Direct Payments are local Health and Social Care trust payments for people who have been assessed as needing support from Social Services (either as an individual, or as a carer)

Needs Assessment

Regardless of income or savings, the person you care for may be entitled to a Needs Assessment from their local Health and Social Care Trust. You can ask for one on their behalf, with their permission.

What will happen?

When someone has a Needs Assessment, the assessor will usually come to their home and talk to them about how they manage everyday tasks and what they want to achieve.

The assessor will look at:

• the person’s health and what they can and can’t do

• their current living arrangements

• how they’d like to be supported

• your views and insights into their needs, as their carer.

As well as the person’s physical safety, the assessor should consider their emotional and social needs, and whether there’s any support that would prevent them needing more significant help in the future. Your thoughts and feelings as their carer should also be taken into account.

The assessor will identify what the person’s needs are – and whether those needs meet the eligibility criteria for help from the Health and Social Care Trust.

If the assessor finds that the person you care for is eligible for help, the Health and Social Care Trust will produce a care and support plan setting out how it will meet their needs, taking into account the care you provide. You should both be involved in drawing up the care plan, and the care you provide should be recorded.

If you require personal care services, you could use this payment to employ a personal assistant or to buy services from an agency of your choice. This may be suitable for you if you like to have control over the assistance you get - you choose who works for you, when they work and what they do.

It is important that you get all the information you require before you decide that Direct Payments is suitable. You should think about the personal advantages and also the responsibilities you will be taking on.

To receive Direct Payments, you will have to contact your local Health and Social Care Trust and ask them to assess your needs.

If you are a carer aged 16 or over, you may be eligible for Direct Payments.

If you are a carer you cannot use Direct Payments to buy services for the person you care for. They can only be spent on getting the support you, as a carer, have been assessed as needing.

Your local Health and Social Care Trust is obliged to offer you the option of Direct Payments in place of the services you currently receive.

There are limited circumstances where you are not given this choice, and your local Trust will be able to tell you about these. If your local Health and Social Care Trust has decided that you do not need help from social care services, you will not be offered Direct Payments.

The Centre for Independent Living can provide more information on Direct Payments and Independent Living:

T: 028 9064 8546

Text: 028 9064 0598

E: info@cilbelfast.org

W: www.cilbelfast.org

URL: www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/ direct-payments